A shrimp fisherman confessed Tuesday that he threw his children from a bridge in the coastal waters off Alabama.

Wednesday rescue teams were scanning waters for the bodies of the four children.

Tuesday night Lam Luong, 37, of Irvington, Ala. was charged with four counts of capital murder after he confessed that he threw his four kids off the Dauphin Island Bridge, which is 80 feet high over the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway that connects Mobile, Ala. and Dauphin Island, The New York Times reports.

John Joyner, chief of police in Bayou La Batre, Ala. said: “Apparently, in his statement, his motive had something to do with an argument he was having with his wife and in-laws.”

Loung and his wife, Ngoc Phan, 23, called the police on Monday in order to report the disappearance of their children.

At first, Loung, a Vietnamese immigrant who had a drug addiction and was working as a shrimp fisherman in Bayou La Batre, said that the baby sitter didn’t return with the children and that she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

After this story fell, he had to admit that he threw the children off the bridge.

According to authorities, he must have driven on Monday to the Dauphin Island Bridge and stopped where the highest part of the span is. Afterwards he threw the children off the bridge, the Chicago Sun Times informs.

The four children were Danny Luong of 4 months old, Lindsey Luong of 1 year old, Hannah Luong, 2 years old and Ryan Phan, 3 years old.

According to Loung’s brother-in-law, Kam Phengsisomboun, Loung and his wife argued Sunday night and Monday. Loung left then with two of his children and came back for the other two.

There is little hope that the children survived the fall or the cold water.

On Wednesday about 70 people searched the area for the bodies of the four children. They used helicopters, boats and water scooters in order to cover the area of 100 square miles in the Mississippi Sound.

John Tyson, district attorney for Mobile County, said: “We have to take every step we can to find these babies. This is as bad a crime as the Alabama Legislature ever imagined.”

On Thursday Loung is scheduled to appear in court.

The couple moved here from Hinesville, Ga.

Initially his family believed he traded the children for drugs. His drug abuse was confirmed by the authorities in Mobile.

In October Luong was arrested in Hinesville for possession of drugs, but no jury acted the case.